Saturday, February 11, 2012

A Prahran Oddity

This is the old court house and police station in Greville Street, Prahran. Its style is described as Gothic Revival and I can see the Gothic for sure. It is a fine building. I am not able to immediately find out what it is now used for but possible it has a connection to the nearby Prahran Town Hall.

When I noticed the building, it struck me that in spite of its very typical Victorian bluestone foundations, it had a Sydney look about it. While I could ask why as a quiz question, I'll suggest that it the colour of the wall stone. Many Sydney buildings are built of light coloured sand stone and while I don't know if this building is sandstone, it is certainly unusually light for a Melbourne building.

Thanks for the old court house and police station in Greville St Prahran. I see it often, but had largely forgotten about it.

I am more a fan of Georgian or colonial architecture, but Melbourne didn't have any or we destroyed what we had. Victorian architecture, on the other hand, we have!

The architects' home page says the Gothic Revival style, with its connotations of religious virtue, was well suited to buildings that represented the institutions of law and order. Before Federation, late-19th century Melbourne still very keen to emphasise solidity and civilisation, thus the use of this rather pompous style.

My public diary, not my private one. I live in a highrise apartment building in inner Melbourne. My interests are varied but top of the list are old buildings, history and public transport. You will find plenty of personal experiences to read in my blog too. Just be aware I am not an historian, amateur or otherwise. While I make some effort to be accurate, I don't do proper methodical research so I advise you check all details on your own behalf should you wish to quote me. Your comments are very welcome, but try to be nice to my fragile yet overblown ego. I enjoy receiving email. You can find my eddress in my complete profile.